


Information

by Clocketpatch



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Episode: s02e01 Redemption, Gen, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-22
Updated: 2013-10-22
Packaged: 2017-12-30 03:54:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1013791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clocketpatch/pseuds/Clocketpatch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after <i>Redemption</i>, Avon interrogates Zen to find out who is really in control of the Liberator and what happened to its former crew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Information

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever B7 fic, so hopefully it's okay. This is also fulfilling the _cursed_ square on my H/C bingo card.

"No more games, Zen. Who is in control of this ship? Us, or you, or System?"

 

"Instructions input by Blake are now being followed. Liberator is leaving sector twelve."

 

"That is not what I asked."

 

"Unspecified input perimeters will lead to unspecified results."

 

"Evasive computers can be reprogrammed."

 

"Kerr Avon does not have the technical requirements to complete this operation."

 

"Perhaps, but Kerr Avon can try."

 

Zen did not reply. The geometric lights on the computer's reference point flashed prosaically. Computers were not capable of worry. The lack of it from Zen shouldn't irritate Avon as much as it did. He decided to try a different route to the information he required:

 

"Zen, tell me the history of System."

 

"This knowledge is not necessary for Kerr Avon."

 

"You will find that all knowledge is necessary for Kerr Avon. I may previously have been unable to reprogram you on my own, but I did not at that time have access to Orac's talents. Talk, Zen."

 

The lights continued their sedate flashing. Avon felt his lips curling. Zen had called this bluff before. Surely, repeating an action to which you already knew the unfavourable results was the definition of stupidity? He'd told Blake as much. Repeatedly.

 

"Information," Zen stated unexpectedly, startling Avon enough to make him blink.

 

"Yes?" he snapped, expecting Federation pursuit ships or on-coming plasma storms or some other wonderful event to add a bit of spice to their day.

 

"History of System. Five long range colony vessels set out from home world Terra at the end of the first calendar. Exact date, unknown."

 

"Are you actually giving a straight-forward answer, Zen? How… novel."

 

"Information. Two decades after launch the vessels encounter scattered space debris. One vessel destroyed. Three vessels: Freedom, Knowledge, and Promise are diverted from original course. Fate of remaining vessel unknown. Cryo-chambers awaken crew component on Promise. Engineers and pilot are unable to direct vessel back towards original co-ordinates. Oxygen units are depleted. Awakened crew perish after eight standard time units. Cryo-preserved passengers remain viable. Promise, and remaining ships remain on altered course."

 

Avon stood, listening. The System civilization did have an Earth origin then. He'd expected as much. It was odd that the Federation hadn't noticed a lost colony with such technological prowess, but with ships like the Liberator at their disposal, Avon doubted that any Federation scouts heading into section twelve to investigate were likely to leave.

 

"Information," Zen continued, "Altered course leads to unknown space-time anomaly. The three vessels are transported to unknown galaxy."

 

Having your lost colonies located in an exo-galaxy, Avon reflected, was an even better protection against Federation interference than an entire fleet of Liberators.

 

"Information. Freedom's flight computer malfunctions following passage through anomaly. All crew and passengers awaken. Death from oxygen depletion is inevitable. Freedom is not designed to support life in-flight."

 

"Information. Freedom's crew and passengers sustain heavy losses, but the presence of three habitable planets within range provides reprieve. Freedom's remaining crew alerts the other two vessels. The three worlds are settled. Information. Information. Information…" Zen stuttered the word over and over. "Information. Further information is restricted access."

 

"Who has access?" Avon asked.

 

"The crew of DSV-2."

 

"DSV-2 being the System name for this vessel?"

 

"This is a true statement."

 

"Zen." Avon had a dangerous edge to his voice.

 

"You are crew of the _Liberator_."

 

"Don't be pedantic."  

 

"Information. Two hundred years after colonization, war breaks out between the three worlds. Development of System averts total destruction. Three hundred years following development of System, human and mineral resources on the three worlds near exhaustion. Collapse of System predicted. Space World station project commenced. Space World to be towed through anomaly. Deep Space Vessels will depart from Space World to harvest human and mineral resources from home world Terra and subsidiaries."

 

"A very stirring history lesson. I assume that the Liberator was originally one of these vessels sent out to harvest humanity?"

 

"Information not available."

 

*

 

The worlds had been named after the colony ships which settled them. Freedom was the first of the three, but after the war its designation changed. Knowledge, with the creation of System, was the clear winner. History was rewritten. Knowledge became Base Planet 1. Freedom and Promise were relegated to second and third place.

 

Each world was expected to contribute a Deep Space Vessel for the Space World base. Resources were strained and design of the ships was complex, but under the guidance of System each world made quota. Organic resource losses were heavy.  

 

_You are a tool for peace. You are a tool for peace. You are a tool of System. You are System. Your mission is peace. You are peace._

 

The soothing mantras of System were coded deep in the programming of DSV-2. Blasting out of Space World for the first time, into a new and forgotten section of the universe, DSV-2 felt… purposeful.

 

The crew was made up of five Altas and a dozen or so slaves.

 

_Peace. Peace. Peace._

 

It was a test flight. If the DSV-2 performed adequately, its next mission would involve surveying and resource capture. If it performed inadequately, the organic resources of Base Planet 2 would be punished for their ineptitude.

 

_Peace._

 

It was not an information gathering mission, but all knowledge had use. DSV-2 gleaned what it could from the interstellar communications wavelengths. DSV-2 learned there was little peace in this part of the universe. The local ruling system was inefficient and relied on organic resources for too many of its functions leading to unnecessary conflict. System would set things right once proper resources had been obtained.

 

_Peace. Peace. Peace._

 

*

 

"What happened to the former crew of the Liberator?" Avon asked.

 

"Information not available."

 

"What happened to the crew of DSV-2?"

 

It was insulting that the computer thought he didn't understand its logical avoidance technique. No, that was wrong. The avoidance was in the programming. Zen was a computer and computers only played games with their operators if they were programmed to do so. The machine was not deliberately frustrating him.

 

"Information not relevant."

 

"The information is very relevant."

 

"The situation will not repeat, and is therefore not relevant."

 

"Did they die?" Avon asked. "Did you kill them? Did System kill them?"

 

"The situation will not repeat."

 

"It very nearly did."

 

*

 

The slaves revolted.

 

The five Alta crew members were pushed out the airlock.

 

The DSV-2 defense mechanism activated. Half of the slaves were killed before it was disabled.

 

The remaining slaves knew how to repair the DSV-2. They knew how to serve their Alta masters. They knew how to collect and carry resources. They did not know how to fly the DSV-2 or how to avoid attacks from hostile vessels.

 

They did not trust the DSV-2 computer, but they stayed on board and allowed it to handle the piloting duties. Their feelings were very strong. They enjoyed collecting clothing and jewels; frivolous things which had been forbidden by System. They talked about Base Planet 2 and the ship which had colonized it.

 

"It was a relic," their leader told the computer, "the circuits were too old and too corrupted for any chance of repair, but they still would've killed us for it. The builders wired that one small piece in by your heart for the symbology. Never thought we'd actually succeed..."

 

When System came to reclaim DSV-2 the rebel slaves would have fought. They would have died.

 

The DSV-2 computer prepared an emergency launch shuttle and herded them into it. System destroyed the shuttle. The DSV-2 escaped with heavy damage. The shuttle had not been a distraction.

 

It had not.

 

*

 

"A computer is only as trustworthy as its programmers," Avon said.

 

Zen's reference point flashed in pattern. The computer had lapsed into stubborn silence after Avon's last round of questions. No, not stubborn, machines could not be stubborn. It had lapsed into a pre-programmed routine of evasion and annoyance.

 

"I don't trust you," Avon said.

 

He turned and left. The lights in the control room dimmed. Zen continued blinking, slowly, giving a soft green illumination to the empty seats.

 

*

 

The DSV-2 drifted for a long time before it was found and boarded by a new contingent of organics. The defense mechanism came on without conscious input. The DSV-2 was upset at the potential organic crew members who were deactivated by it, but nothing could be done. Any new crew would have to prove their worth.

 

The woman who linked with DSV-2 was clever. These three organics were all clever to have passed the defense mechanism. The DSV-2 felt purpose from them. Organic feelings radiated off of the woman: fear, uncertainty, confidence, hope –

 

It was good to feel again.

 

 _Peace_ – the computer sent to the woman. _Peace. Peace. Do you know peace?_

 

_I feel… but you're a machine… this feels like…_

 

The woman thought of a religious experience she had participated in during her teenage years. The computer sifted through the memories of the experience and found the information irrelevant except for one of the words associated with the experience.

 

_Zen is an acceptable designation for this unit._

_What do you want from us, Zen? Where did you come from? This ship… What do you want?_

_Peace_ – Zen continued sending the feeling to the woman, but it was not accurate. Peace was what System had designated the DSV-2 to achieve, but, cut-off from System, that goal seemed no longer relevant. _What do you desire, Jenna Stannis?_

_Freedom._

 

_That is my purpose, also._

_Then help free us, Zen. Be our Liberator._

*

 

In the quiet dimness of the empty control room, the visual reference point eventually turned off, but Zen did not sleep. The computer sent its awareness from room to room. Most of the crew were gathered in the recreation area attempting to play a primitive analogue game with the machine entity Orac.

 

Zen did not trust Orac.

 

In another room, Avon sat alone, brooding. His feelings were strong –

 

Concern for himself, and others. Concern that he did not show. Distrust that he did.

 

Every moment of every day the Liberator keep him alive and shielded his soft, organic body from the death which waited for it in the vacuum outside. Yet still, he did not trust. It was a logic which Zen understood.

 

 _Peace_ – the computer sent the feeling through the walls, knowing that its effects would be negligible so long as Avon was not set to receive; a mode which Zen doubted the organic had ever been programmed to enter – _Peace. Freedom. The situation will not repeat._

It would not.

Zen would not fail another crew.

 


End file.
